Perish • Ben Parish

03

The next morning, I awoke to find myself still in the same spot as I'd been the night before - on the couch. 

My blanket had fallen to a heap on the ground and the fire had long since been snuffed out, making my lips dry and my skin cool to the touch. 

The weather was warmer during the day than it had been in the hotel, but the nights seemed to be just as cold as ever. 

I heard footsteps down the hall and then a door open. Some voices. Then another door. 

Everyone else was getting up, so I heaved myself up to a sitting position and ran my fingers through my knotted hair. 

"But why Zombie?" I heard Nugget whine. 

"Don't you want to see Ringer and Teacup again?" Zombie's asked, his voice still groggy from sleep. 

"No, not really," Nugget responded. 

I could just imagine Nugget shrugging, his face reading of complete and utter honesty. I frowned slightly. He was not the same, sweet boy I'd met back at Wright Patterson. He was different now. He didn't care about his friends, he treated his sister like shit, and I no longer seemed to mean anything to him. 

Nugget probably thought all that made him more mature, more like the rest of us. But it didn't. He was just a sad boy, trying to push everything away so he wouldn't have to deal with the pain anymore. 

Zombie let out a gruff sigh of annoyance. "Yes, you do," he said, his tone cool. "And even if you truly don't, We're still going to find them." 

I stood up from the couch, tossing the blanket on it. 

"We're?" Nugget asked, a spark of hope tinging his voice. 

I could imagine Zombie shaking his head, closing his eyes momentarily in  order to maintain his cool. 

"Dumbo, Canary, and I," Zombie said. 

"Why why can't I go?" Nugget whined, "I'm just as strong and smart and trained as the rest of you." 

I crossed my arms, tiptoeing quietly to the wall adjacent to the hallway.

"You're right Nugget. You are strong. That's why I need you here, at the house, to protect everyone else," Zombie's tired voice echoed back. 

"But I want to go with you," Nugget said, "Canary can stay here and I can take her place. I mean, Canary got shot that one time and then was strangled! She's not that strong," Nugget pleaded. 

I grit my teeth in annoyance, pressing my folded arms firmly against my body in order to restrain myself from barging over there. 

Nugget could suck up to Zombie and beg with him all he wanted, but he sure as hell wasn't going to throw me under the bus to get his way. 

"Canary is strong and that's why she's coming," Zombie cut in, his voice harsher and more severe than before. "Her getting shot and strangled was not because she was weak," he said, "it could've happened to any of us-"

"But-" Nugget started. 

"No," Zombie said, cutting him off. "I don't want to hear it anymore. Canary is coming because she knows restraint and when to back down. So is Dumbo. You're not coming on any missions until you learn," he continued. 

Nugget didn't say anything. He didn't offer any form of protest and he didn't start his hysterical sobs or tantrums. 

I took my sleeve to my forehead and wiped the stray hair from my face before stepping into the hallway.